Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Middle Imperial Romans (West) vs. Later Sarmatians

A recent encounter saw me field the Middle Imperial Romans (II/64) – the first ever DBA army I put together (and they look like it!) – against the Sarmatian knights. We deployed with a road running down the centre of the board at right angles to our lines. The road bisected some woods in the centre of the battlefield. I had a steep hill on my right flank and the Sarmatians had a similar hill on their left flank.

As I advanced the Roman line (cavalry and auxiliaries on the right flank and legionaries, ballista, and light horse on the left) towards the centre of the board the Sarmatians split their force (their total force was 9 bases of knights, 1 of light horse, and 2 of skirmishers) and charged around both sides of the woods. On my right flank my auxileries took to the relative safety of the woods and my cavalry threatened the Sarmatian's weaker left flank, causing it to withdraw out of contact range.

However, two lines of knights thundered around the wood on my left causing me to hastily form a battle line with my heavy infantry (pictured). This manoeuvring took all the movement pips I had for a few turns, starving my right flank of the ability to pursue its advantage. On my left, the Sarmatians contacted the light horse on my extreme left flank driving it off and subsequently disordered my legionaries. Sarmatian skirmishers harried my ballista rendering them ineffective. From there is was a turkey shoot - with the knights decimating my disordered heavy infantry. Rome succumbed to the barbarian invaders!

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Welcome

Thanks for dropping by! I've been interested in model soldiers, board gaming, reenacting and miniatures wargaming for over 40 years. This blog is to share occasional gaming reports, my painting and scratch building attempts and to connect with gamers worldwide. I've had a range of interests over the years from ancients to modern and 2mm to 28mm.